<p>The lack of preparation by the Environment Agency for floods over the last two years should be brought out by the media following the grave situation in flooded England.</p>
<p>Mr Milliband, Secretary of State for the Environment under Tony Blair, failed to lift the poor performance of the Environment Agency or to come forward with flood defence plans capable of protecting large areas of England.</p>
<p>Barbara Young, Chief Executive of the Agency, only tells people they should log onto her website and then look after themselves. She should try logging on to a website when the living room is under water and there is a torrent outside in the road.</p>
<p>What we want the Environment Agency to do is to put in the flood and surface water defences we need, and to maintain them in good condition. Clearly they have done neither to an acceptable standard.</p>
<p>They knew heavy rain was coming, yet obvious weak points on river banks near main roads were not bolstered by sand bags or other containment. Some important drains and flood defences were not maintained to a good standard, leaving them unable to cope with large volumes of water.</p>
<p>Instead of giving Barbara Young easy interviews for her to pump out her self justifying script, she should be asked why the Agency has done so little to improve the condition of existing defences, failed to put in more new defences and failed to put in temporary water containment.</p>
<p>We do not want more flood warnings - we want more flood protection.</p>
<p>And where have Ministers gone to? Why aren’t they out and about seeing what can be done to help people?
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